“Let’s see them do it first,” he told reporters in a joint press appearance with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
He added: “When I sanction a country, that costs the U.S. a lot of money — a tremendous amount of money.
“It’s not just, let’s sign a document. You’re talking about billions and billions of dollars. Sanctions are not that easy. It’s not just a one-way street.”
The president said he wanted to keep trying to progress forward stalled peace negotiations before hitting Russia with further punitive measures.
The EU is calling for a cut to the Russia oil price cap — a key sanction against Vladimir Putin — from $60 to $45.
The measure would further starve Putin of revenues to fight his war against Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday: “We must put more pressure on Russia to secure a real cease-fire, to bring Russia to the negotiating table and to end this war, sanctions are critical to that end.”